Piedmont Custom Meats, Inc.: Non-Compliance to Humane Livestock Handling in 2022 (USDA)
See the detail of the non-compliance of humane livestock handling that the USDA observed at the Piedmont Custom Meats, Inc. slaughterhouse establishment in 2022.
You can also see other establishments that were non-compliant in 2022.
313.15(a)(1)
At 0825 hours while performing Post-Mortem slaughter inspection duties, the following noncompliance was observed. After finishing looking at the viscera of the second Bovine that had been slaughtered, I was heading back towards the knocking box to observe the animal that had just been put down with a captive bolt, for compliance with HATS Category “Stunning Effectiveness”. As I was approaching the area, I could see that the animal had received a captive bolt as blood was coming from the area of its forehead and looked to be an acceptable placement. I then noticed that the cow appeared to be conscious, as it displayed blinking of its eyes and as if it was trying to right itself from the floor of the knocking box. However, the knocking box gate was being raised and the cow fell out before I could yell out that it was still conscious. As the cow rolled out of the box, it immediately stood to its feet and walked out onto the kill floor. The establishment uses two REDACTED hand held captive bolt guns to stun animals at this facility. Therefore, this incident is noncompliant with FSIS regulatory requirements as stated in 9CFR313.15(a)1. Establishment employees were able to guide the cow back through the knocking box and out into the lane, which allowed them to close the gate and have the animal return into the box to be rendered unconscious to pain and finish the process by using a .223 caliber rifle. Therefore, Mrs. REDACTED (Owner) was notified that the incident was noncompliant with Humane Handling regulatory requirements and that Regulatory control was being taken. Regulatory control was taken by applying USDA Retained/Rejected tag #B38053876 to the working controls of the knocking box. As per 9CFR313.50, all animals that were slaughtered prior to this incident were allowed to complete the dressing process under inspection. At the time of writing this noncompliance report, management was still in the process of completing it’s investigation of the incident. Therefore, no further corrective actions or preventive measures to it’s program was available. Furthermore, there were no previous similar noncompliance’s within the past 60 to 90 days of this incident. Regulatory control remained in placed at this time.
